Down early, White Sox show fight in loss

SEATTLE -- The White Sox lost another tough game on Thursday night. It was their fourth consecutive loss, their seventh straight defeat on the road, and their 10th loss in their last 12 games.

This one ended in excruciating fashion, too. The Mariners were up, 4-0, the White Sox chipped away at the lead and tied the game on back-to-back solo home runs by Todd Frazier and Tim Anderson in the eighth, and then things went awry once again in the ninth. The Mariners won, 5-4, in the bottom of the final inning on a flare single by pinch-hitter Guillermo Heredia.

SEATTLE -- The White Sox lost another tough game on Thursday night. It was their fourth consecutive loss, their seventh straight defeat on the road, and their 10th loss in their last 12 games.

This one ended in excruciating fashion, too. The Mariners were up, 4-0, the White Sox chipped away at the lead and tied the game on back-to-back solo home runs by Todd Frazier and Tim Anderson in the eighth, and then things went awry once again in the ninth. The Mariners won, 5-4, in the bottom of the final inning on a flare single by pinch-hitter Guillermo Heredia.

But after the game, the White Sox were not down. They were not feeling particularly sorry for themselves. In fact, they were proud of the way they've gotten off the mat and made some of these games interesting in the late innings. They figure it's going to pay off sooner than later.

"You have to look at the positives," said Frazier, whose blast was his fourth of the season. "We came back. … Late innings, a couple of big home runs, and we kept battling. That's what [manager] Rick [Renteria] always talks about. Keep battling and eventually good things are going to happen."

And good things did. happen for the White Sox in this game, aside from having to place it in the loss column.

Starter Dylan Covey went six innings, and while he gave up four runs, Renteria said it was the young right-hander's best outing of the year.

Anderson, who's been trying to get on track at the plate, went 3-for-4 with a single, double and homer and made two sensational leaping grabs of line drives at shortstop.

"It's something I can build off of," Anderson said. "I'm understanding what they're trying to do to me. I'll just continue to put in my work and learn."

Right fielder Avisail Garcia continues his assault on American League pitching. He had two hits, including a triple, and is batting .352 to lead the team.

And Frazier, who came into the game hitting .187, added a double to his homer and says he feels like he's locking in at the plate.

The next step in these small developments is to become big wins. Renteria says he doesn't think it's too far away.

"Obviously, they don't quit," Renteria said. "The one thing you want to make sure to do when you're having games like this is ultimately try to finish it out. That puts the icing on the cake, and I think that when they continue to battle and fight, that speaks to the character of those guys and how they go about their business.